Passing It On
by Daemon12794
Summary: Damian makes his first trip to the Watchtower, where he finds out a little tidbit about Dick's younger self from an unlikely source. Bruce makes a cameo appearance :P


**A/N:Based on an utterly beautiful chapter (chapter 2, to be precise) in this: [ .net/s/7313207/2/Of_Flying_Robins ]ASSUMING DICK WAS ADOPTED BY BRUCE WHEN HE WAS ABOUT SIX-ISH. DICK IS STILL BATMAN, BRUCE IS GLOBETROTTING RECRUITING NEW BATMEN.**

* * *

It was the time when new members were to be voted into the Justice League again. Damian had no idea what he was doing there. It was the first time he had ever been allowed to visit the Watchtower, and he didn't even have to open his mouth. Dick was heading to the zeta tubes, when he saw Damian (secretly) longing to go with him. And, he simply told him to suit up and come with him. After forty minutes of being in the Watchtower, he still had no idea what he was doing there.

Damian stood in the monitor womb, looking around… taking in the enormity of the place. Dick had been talking to Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl. They wrapped up their conversation, and Dick walked out of the room, motioning at Damian to stay where he was. Damian stuck to the shadows, the heroes didn't see him.

"Look at him," Hawkgirl said softly, watching Dick leave, "It seems like only yesterday he was six, toddling around here pretending to be Superman."

Diana laughed, "Do you remember how irritated Bruce used to get when he noticed that Dick liked Superman more?"

Hawkgirl joined her, "Oh yes! Remember that bear that he had?"

"Please… In my life, I will _never_ forget it… Batbear," she said, and they both burst into giggles.

Damian watched them with his eyebrow cocked up in distaste.

"Hera, the trouble that bear caused! He wouldn't leave it anywhere!"

"Where is it, anyway? I haven't seen it in _years_. I'm pretty sure Alfred wouldn't have thrown it out. I mean, he made it himself, didn't he?"

"It's probably in Batman's room or something. I mean, that bear spent more time at the Watchtower than it did in the Manor."

"Because the Watchtower was the only place Bruce could leave Dick, knowing he wouldn't find him… what did he call it? _Tampering with the cave machinery_," Hawkgirl laughed as she and Diana left the womb, leaving Damian alone.

As is obvious, this discussion didn't make much sense to Damian, other than the fact that it had something to do with Grayson when he was young. He also felt a familiar feeling of being slightly ashamed: Dick had been in the Watchtower even before he was Robin. Damian had been Robin for almost a year now. But he set off towards Batman's room anyway, he wanted to see what this "Batbear" was.

But he didn't find it in Batman's room. He saw no trace of any "batbear" anywhere in the Watchtower. Eventually he gave up, and began wandering around, exploring the equipment rooms, training centres, trophy rooms… Until he came to the end of the trophy room, where the oldest photographs and prizes were kept. He was examining each photograph, looking closely at his father, wondering, _why would he join? What was his intention?_ when he saw a framed photo that had fallen off the wall, and was poking out from behind some rubbish memorabilia. Picking it up, he saw a different photograph from the ones on the wall. This one was not formal, not serious. It had the leaguers laughing, some smiling, _even father. Father is smiling. The Batman is smiling_. The object of laughter was clear. Superman was holding a young boy, who couldn't be older than five by his ankle, dangling him next to Batman. The Flash was pulling the upside-down boy's cheeks. And in the boy's hands was a bear. A bear with its own tiny cape, cowl and utility belt.

Damian suddenly realised that the black-haired-blue-eyed boy was Grayson. Tiny, six-year-old Grayson. With a bear dressed as Batman. Damian burst out laughing when he realised that this bear was "Batbear". _My God, Grayson, I knew you were a child, but this… this is ridiculous._

_-Damian, where are you? I told you to stay in the monitor womb! Get back here, I'm going to zeta you home._ – commed Dick suddenly.

In haste, Damian pocketed the frame. As he started walking back, he replied to Dick, "You're going to zeta me home? What about you?"

_-I've got some work in 'Haven. I'll come back after that. Bruce is home, anyway.-_

Damian began running, _Father is home_.

* * *

Damian stepped out into the Cave, to see Bruce about to go out. He knew that there was no point in asking whether he could patrol with him. Instead, he thought he could bring up another topic.

"Grayson took me to the Watchtower today."

"I'm aware of that."

"I found out something… interesting."

This got Bruce's attention, "… what?"

"When Grayson was a kid, he had a batbear?" Damian could barely suppress his laughter, "I mean, how _lame_ is that. A _batbear_."

His snickering died down when he saw that Bruce wasn't laughing with him. Instead, he stood where he was, staring into the darkness.

* * *

The following morning, Damian was trudging down the staircase, when Alfred called out, "Master Damian, if you would be so kind, I have been calling out to Master Bruce for the last hour. Will you please go and see what is taking him so long to reply?"

Damian stared at Alfred for a few seconds before turning to go up the stairs again. He looked in Bruce's bedroom, but he wasn't there. Damian padded down the length of the hall until he passed an open door. He looked inside to see Bruce digging through the closet, throwing stuff behind him searching for God-knows-what. He had never been inside this bedroom before, but he was sure Alfred wouldn't leave any room looking like that.

"Pennyworth might just commit murder seeing this."

Bruce ignored him, but pulled out a box victoriously from the closet. He opened it and pulled out something. Damian navigated around the mess to get a closer look, only to see Bruce holding the teddy bear of the photograph, complete with cape, cowl and utility belt.

For a few minutes, there was silence in the room as Damian kept staring at the teddy bear, while Bruce pulled out a second, similar bear, which was in a Robin costume. It was obvious that these bears were extremely old, and extremely well-kept, even though they were in a box.

Bruce sighed, "Batbear… You know, when I first took Dick to the Watchtower, the rest of them were… displeased. By the end of his visit, he had them all wrapped around his finger…"

Damian said nothing, not taking his eyes off the teddy. Bruce continued on softly, mentioning tiny, sweet adventures of baby Grayson in the headquarters of the world's heroes.

"… When Dick moved out, he took quite a lot of things with him… But not this. I, uh, packed this safely. I even put Robinbear with him. He made Robinbear for me, you know. He believed it would keep nightmares away."

Damian opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He cleared his throat, and said in a hoarse voice, "Can I… can I keep them?"

Bruce batglared at him, "Don't hurt them. It's because of those idiots' carelessness that the teddy turned into Batbear in the first place."

"I won't," Damian promised as he walked out of the room with the bears in tow.

* * *

Dick returned to the Manor a few days later, only to have Alfred tell him that while Dick was out of town, Damian attempted to do some solo crime-fighting, that resulted in some heavy injury.

Dick's face was serious when he asked, "Where is he now?"

"In his room. I sedated him a few hours ago, Master Richard, he should be sleeping now."

Dick nodded, dumping his jacket, helmet and keys on the floor next to the front door, and headed up to Damian's room. Alfred eyed the little mountain that was Dick's belongings and sighed, _old habits die hard_. He picked up each item and walked away.

* * *

Dick opened the door to Damian's room silently, to find him curled up on his side. _Alfred wasn't kidding._ Dick could see a thick bandage on his chest, and he was sure the worst ones were covered by the blanket draped on Damian. Then he saw that Damian was clutching something. Curious, he pulled down the blanket a little. _Is that… No way… It is! Batbear! Oh my God, he's got my Batbear! Wait, what is he doing with MY batbear?_

Suddenly, Damian turned, and Batbear rolled over to the edge of the bed. Dick caught it and looked at it, holding it up to the dim light that filtered through the curtains. _It looks… exactly the same_. He cuddled it once, straightened its cowl and smoothened its cape, before putting it back under Damian's arm securely, so that it wouldn't roll off again. _To keep the nightmares away, little D._

Dick went on patrol for a while, then hit the sack. His sleep was disturbed with weird, twisted nightmares, filled with broken ropes and gunshots. After a few hours, the dreams faded and he fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

It was about five in the evening when Dick woke up. In the crook of his arm, the Robinbear had been placed. On his table was a note in Damian's handwriting, that said,

"_To keep the nightmares away."_

* * *

**Note: One-shot. No sequel.**


End file.
